in pursuit of wild things

Other than my husband struggling with his vertigo we had a fairly nice week. The weather turned cool enough to start turning the trees warm autumn shades. Several times this week I wished I had my cell in hand so I could snap a picture of the sun, clouds or a bright red maple leaf. Oh well…I’ve been trying to work on a photo challenge this week but the changing dynamics in our homeschool took up a good chunk of my time.

The past couple of weeks Oldest has worked from a list of weekly assignments. He asked for and I gave him the freedom to choose which subjects he works on and when. I wrote up his entire list of assignments for a week in a notebook and he completed his work fairly

independently. I gave him some time management pointers and let him go. By the end of this week when an essay was due I think he was regretting not taking my advice. He and Middle Boy ended up spending part of Saturday morning in the school room (hopefully that won’t happen again!). This week he has several exams so we’ll see if doing things his way works for him or not.

Sparkles also gets up early in order to get her assignments out of the way. We then spend a bit of one on one time as I go through her assignments. She loves having the rest of the day to indulge in reading. I am considering setting up a weekly notebook for her as well. Middle Boy and Littlest still need me in a more hands on manner and I am so happy. We all still get together for read aloud time and a couple of topics but I miss all of the together time in the school room. I finally know how to rock this homeschooling experience and my kids…grow-up.

My favorite incident in the homeschool this week occurred with Middle Boy. He and Sparkles had a Jamestown report due at the end of the week. No biggie, no formal essay, just a one pager on the basic facts. It never occurred to me to explain the type of report I wanted. Sparkles wrote a nice one page report focused on Pocahontas. Middle Boy gave me a four page comic book. I almost made him redo it but…as I looked it over…well. His facts were correct and mostly in chronological order. He is only nine and not headed off to college anytime soon and I could tell he put quite a bit of work into his paper. So I told him his report was awesome and how much I appreciated his creativity.

Monday was something of a day. I received a package from my husband containing my favorite childhood toy–Doogan Dog. My husband is so wonderful. This isn’t the first time he has tracked down something precious from my childhood and gifted it to me. A few years ago he found my favorite Disney Storybook and bought it for me. I cried looking through that book and I cried over Doogan too. My childhood sucked. I would not go back to those days for anything. Doogan and that book were two things that I loved and now I have them back. I am so blessed to be married to him. I do not deserve this man…he remembers the little things I say even though I forget. He spoils me, lets me homeschool the kids, protects me and makes me a grilled cheese sandwich every Sunday (okay, nearly every Sunday!).

Monday was also sorta cool for my husband. He got to go to the Governor’s Mansion for a reception. A few people from Jim Beam and Suntory (the company that owns Jim Beam) got to meet the governor because the plant is building a new bourbon warehouse and something about a new sister-city in Japan. Sadly, no pictures. My husband did tell me he enjoyed the best chocolate truffle of his life at the reception.

We went to the same church we visited last week but it was our last visit. Oldest did not enjoy the youth service this evening. The sermon left my husband and I wondering just what was going on. This week’s sermon was about why you should not complain about the manner of the worship service and the music. The message I left with was if I do not get anything out of the worship service and praise band then I am selfish and closed minded. Nice people but it seems like maybe something is going on under the surface. So, when Oldest came home tonight from the youth service and requested to not go back I barely suppressed my hallelujah. Next week, someplace new. My husband and I just want him to find a place he feels like he belongs.

This week I finished three hats. I made two for my friend Mary; a warm hat and a slouchy hat. I also made a slouchy hat for myself. I got a bit carried away watching “The Arrow” so my hat is really slouchy. I’ll try to get a picture of it this week…it is about six inches too long but I love it. My next knitting project is to make a mock chain stitch shawl with a matching hat. I’ll need to get some beads for the netted fringe.

We decided to replace the porch on our old house in western Kentucky. My friend Mary went by and took a few pictures for us. I am hoping the house sells soon (please pray!). The only other thing of note this week was the power outages in town. Today the power was out in a huge block around my grocery shopping locations. I went to get a few things from the store but had to return home empty handed since the shops closed and the traffic was horrendous. The power in our area was out for a long while one day this week. My husband ended up coming home early that day since the factory ended up a mess. I think he needed the extra rest time anyway since he wasn’t feeling well.

Middle Boy with Doogan

working on history notebook

Origami Yoday and fruit-igami

art with Barry Stubbins

Littlest loves Doogan